


It's Over, isn't it? But had it even begun?

by WAKAWAKA3514



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, One-Sided Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), over emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 15:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7580725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WAKAWAKA3514/pseuds/WAKAWAKA3514
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This fanfic is a retelling of Mr. Greg from a perspective closer to the original outline:</p><p>"As the series has progressed, she's learned that she isn't always right, and that there are things about herself that she's has to reevaluate. This all comes to a sort of climax in this scene where she accepts and admits out loud that her relationship with Rose was never as deep and complete as she wanted it to be or told herself it was."</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Over, isn't it? But had it even begun?

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is a retelling of Mr. Greg from a perspective closer to the original outline (seen here: http://joethejohnston.tumblr.com/post/147725066143/building-a-scene-its-over-isnt-it). Copied below in case anything ever happens to that link.
> 
> For Pearl's song "It's Over isn't it?" the scene is about Pearl accepting a loss. As the series has progressed, she's learned that she isn't always right, and that there are things about herself that she's has to reevaluate. This all comes to a sort of climax in this scene where she accepts and admits out loud that her relationship with Rose was never as deep and complete as she wanted it to be or told herself it was. this is where she's left at the end of the scene, feeling lost and out of place. 
> 
> In the outline written by Ben Levine and Matt Burnette, this is how the scene looked:
> 
> Later that night, Greg and Steven turn in for the night in the room. Greg, who is very tired apologizes for needing to sleep, but Pearl says its fine. She'll just sit on the edge of her bed until morning. Steven dozes off, but is awoken by something. He peeks over his covers to see Pearl quietly singing to herself about not knowing how to feel anymore about... him. She looks back at Greg, and then gets up and sneaks out of the room. Steven climbs out of the bed and sneaks off after her. 
> 
> He follows Pearl up the the hotel roof, careful to not let her see him. He watches from behind a ventilation pipe as Pearl continues to sing, with more bravado now that she's out in the open. It's a song about her complicated feelings for Greg. As she sings, she projects holograms of past versions of her and Greg that loop little vignettes (like living GIFs), creating a visual timeline of their relationship glowing against the skyline. We see the younger Greg and Pearl at odds, circa "We Need to Talk", we see then both sad but ignoring each other, presumably after losing Rose, we see Greg handing a young Steven over to Pearl. They use to be rivals for Rose's affections, but that's long over with. Now that she's finally let herself get to know him, she feels a little bit different about him. but what is it exactly? She can't quite find the right emotion to capture it. Steven sneaks off the roof as Pearl finishes her song.

"No, no, no, it's fine, I swear." Pearl bowed slightly, shaking her hand. "Believe me, a night alone won't kill me. I can keep myself occupied."

"Alright, I believe you." Greg calmed down a little on the reassurance. "But if you do get bored, there's a TV out in the main room, just don't- actually no, I don't care if you order any Pay-Per-View stuff. Go right ahead."

"Thanks Greg," Pearl said, secretly wondering what 'Pay-Per-View' was. "You don't need to worry about me."

"Well then, see you in the morning." Greg said a last goodbye as he turned to the master bedroom, breathing a sigh of relief at the chance to sleep after this long, but exciting day. 

Pearl looked around at the mess made of the suite. A large part of her wanted to summon the spare broom from inside her gem and just clean until sunrise. But when she started picking up some garbage earlier, Steven stopped her. He told a story about these poor housemaids that would be out of a job, their babies starving, if Pearl continued doing what they were suppose to do. 

Pearl thought that story was highly unlikely to be true, but if it made Steven happy to have this mess lying around, she could manage. Still, the idea of looking at the aftermaths of Greg and Steven's evening for the next 8 hours didn't appeal to Pearl. She started looking around, trying to find some other space where she could relax until sunrise. 

She wandered around, trying to turn a blind eye to the various piles that accumulated over the night. There was the main room, with a pool and TV surrounded by couches in the corner, the small kitchen where Greg and Steven haphazardly made sweets earlier, and above that, the master bedroom. 

She peeked into the bedroom, Greg snoring loudly and Steven peacefully lying beside him. She looked over to Steven, it was easy to know what she felt about Steven. He was the cutest kid in the world to her, she wanted to protect and cherish him. To hold him close and keep him safe from all the world's dangers, as well as off-world's dangers. As impossible as she knew that was. 

But when she looked at Greg? She didn't really know what feeling stirred within her. She would have known for certain a while ago. Hatred. Detestation. For he was the man responsible for taking away Rose. First, just for some nights, some nights turned into weeks. Then forever. Brought her back wrapped up in powerless human flesh and an immature sense of humor. But as soon as she let her guard down, Steven wormed his way into her heart faster than she thought possible. But with Greg...

Was Greg starting to worm his way into her heart?

Her mind almost violently reacted to that thought. No, she hated him, she hated him on principle, she hated his looks, his music, his stupid little sayings. And how he took her commander, her lover, her best friend, her Rose away. Nearly the only reason she tolerated his existence was out of respect for Rose and love for Steven. But was that always true? She needed to think back to the beginning, those first nights of seeing Greg come by the temple. 

_"I was fine with the men that would come into her life now and again."_ She whispered, turning to a nearby vase and plucking a rose from it. _"I was fine 'cause I knew, that they didn't really matter until you."_

She noticed a door at the end of the room that she hadn't before. A mix of moonlight and this city's glow trickled from underneath the doorway. She tested the handle, finding it locked. In a moment of impulse, she turned the handle far harder than she knew any human could. It made a small cracking sound, but now gave way to her entrance to a small stairwell leading to the roof. 

Steven was woken up by the sudden noise, he opened his eyes to see Pearl fiddling with a door. Quickly shutting his eyes again when Pearl suddenly turned. 

Pearl was glad that the noise didn't wake anybody. Greg was still snoring and Steven hadn't moved an inch. She looked over to Greg and begun whispering to herself again, _"I was fine when you came and we fought like it was all some silly game. Over her, who she'd choose, after all those years, I never thought I'd lose."_

Steven watched intently as Pearl left for the rooftop singing to herself. As soon as he thought he could, he jumped up and began following her up the stairs. He spotted her looking over the skyline and ducked behind an A/C unit to listen as Pearl began to sing out loud. 

_"It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?_  
_It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?_  
_She found you, she chose you, she loved you and you won,_  
_It's over, isn't it, but had it even begun?"_

Pearl became intimately reminded of a TV show that Steven was fascinated with for a short time. A dozen or so men circled around a women, wooing her in whatever ways they could. In the end, the women would give one of them a rose, and they rest would go home empty handed. At the time, she thought it was odd that twelve men would fight over a single women when the gender ratios on this planet was pretty close to 1:1. She later learned that 'Schmaltzy Romance Drama' was a genre of human entertainment, one that she was sure Rose would have loved. 

But she was reminded of it in this moment because she realized that it's what she treated the whole situation after Greg came to town. That she just needed to impress Rose a little bit more, or show how Greg wasn't that great, then she would give Pearl a flower and Greg would never be seen again. But life isn't some schmaltzy game show. Life has always been more complex than what could properly fit in a commercialized time slot.

Pearl tried to think of their past together, the millennia spent spent together. She was closer to Rose than other Pearl she saw be close to their own masters. She jumped up onto the edge of the building, thinking of all that Rose has done for her, and sung out,

 _"War and glory, reinvention_  
_Fusion, freedom, her attention,_  
_Out in daylight, my potential,_  
_Bold, precise, experimental"_

But what did it all mean? Rose gave her so much, but did she really give her anything? It was mostly opportunities that no one else would think to give to a pearl. Why would a secretary need weapons training? When they first saw Garnet and Rose decided that they should fuse, would she have chosen her if there was anyone else around? Did she give Pearl any chances, to be herself, that she didn't give everyone else around her? How much effort did she put into getting Rose to smile or laugh when Greg got the same for telling a bad joke he's told before? How much of herself did she give to Rose to get the same amount of love she would have gotten if she tried nothing? With how much she poured into Rose, how much was left in her? 

She collapsed onto the ground, looking upwards, and began singing again,

 _"Who am I now in this world without her?_  
_Petty and dull with the nerve to doubt her?_  
_What does it matter, it's already done._  
_Now I've got to be there for her son."_

Pearl opened up her holographic projector and began looking through old memories. So many pictures of Rose flipping through centuries in seconds. Meeting, training, war, peace, freedom, joy, anger, laughter, crying. With so many other people too, friends before the war, comrades during. First pictures of Garnet and Amethyst, so many humans throughout the years, each of them so unique. And Greg.

And Greg.

She stopped on the first picture she had of Greg, smiling holding up some human concoction and Rose having a similar drink in her own hand. She tried to look at him without the hatred in her heart like she did so many times before. He looked like one of the better specimens of humans she's seen. When he was young and muscular, with wild hair and confident smile. She could see where Rose would have trouble not falling for him. 

She adjusts the tags for her projected gallery to show pictures with Greg, and starts flipping through them. She almost cringes at the first few. All some sort of candid awkward picture of him that she thought she could show Rose to have her be disgusted with him. It didn't work at all, Rose seemed to find him more adorable after that. The next few weren’t much better, snapshots, reminders of all the different ways that she tried to torment Greg. The next couple dozen were tamer, when Pearl figured out the Greg wasn't going anywhere quickly. Then another of Rose smiling with Greg. Now that she thought about it, she didn't know if she had any pictures of Rose and Greg together where Rose wasn't smiling. That fact probably would have infuriated her before. But now, it was obvious how happy he made her. 

Pearl flipped to the next picture and almost panicked. It's a picture of Greg, slightly older, leaning against his van with both of his hands on the sides of his head. She remembers this day well. It's the day Rose told them she was pregnant, and that after the baby was born, she wasn't going to be around. Looking back, it was obvious how he was trying to apologize in whatever way he could. And it took everything in her power to not lash out at him. Pearl didn't need to be reminded of this day, she quickly swiped to the next picture.

The next picture wasn't much better. Nearly a year later than the last one, Greg is looking disheveled, putting up a weak smile as he holds out a baby Steven. She played with the gallery mode once again and flips through the next few pictures, reliving the first time she picked up and held baby Steven with the most delicate touch she could manage. At the time, so many mixed feeling, joy and horror. But he was cute, running her hands through his tight black curly hair. Him taking one of her fingers and gripping it tight as he giggles. She lifts up his little shirt, spotting her gem- And quickly returns him before running off apologizing. Another day probably recognized as among the worst.

But that was years ago, wasn't it? She realized she needed to not focus on that, on years past, on friends lost. She had stuff she needed to worry about in the present. Raising Steven, keeping him safe. Trying to make sure he doesn't accidentally kill himself with his powers. Fighting Homeworld, or somehow using Steven to befriend whoever Homeworld sends. She needed to realize that whatever did happen between her and Rose, that it was over. She righted herself and looked over the city,

 _"It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?_  
_It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over?_  
_She found you, she chose you, she loved you and you won_ ,  
_It's over, isn't it, but it hadn't even begun..."_

Steven could tell when a song was nearing an end, and slipped back down into the suite before Pearl could spot him. He tried to figure out in his own brain what was going through Pearl's. When he finally reached the bedroom, he found Greg sitting upright, slipping a robe on over his suit. "Hey kiddo."

"Dad," Steven blurted out, "Were you-"

Greg picked himself up and walked towards the door, he turned around and said, "Nothing's going fix this, is it?" 

"Greg," Steven turned around to see Pearl standing behind him. She looked devastated to know that her lament was heard. Steven tried to turn around and grab his father, but he was already descending the staircase.

"I-I shouldn't have come along." Pearl said.

Steven whipped his head around for the third time in less than ten seconds. "No, this is exactly why I brought you."

 

Greg and Pearl are lying next to each other in a spacious empty restaurant, after Steven dragged them both together here. Both of them staring off in to space, waiting for the other to speak first as Steven plays soft piano music. 

Greg was the first to crack, "If I were you, I'd hate me too."

Pearl almost snickered, "I don't hate you, not anymore."

"Not anymore?" Greg looked over to her, "What changed?"

Pearl struggled to find the right words. "She fell in love with you. She loved you so much more than she loved me."

Greg interjected in the slight pause, "That's not true, she loved everyone, she always talked so highly of you." 

Pearl threw herself upright and pulled her knees close to her chest, "It's true though, I couldn't even imagine her doing for me what she did for you." Pearl nodded her head in Steven's direction, "Ignoring how two gems could have a human baby together or as much as I love Steven, I wouldn't have wanted that."

"Hey," Greg propped himself up on his hands, "Just because she loved me doesn't mean she didn't love you."

"I knew she love me, I knew she loved everyone. But I have to thank you." She turned to Greg as she formulated the next thought in her head. 

"Thank me? Why?"

"If it wasn't for you, I never would have figured out that she didn't love me like I loved her."

Greg was stunned, Pearl started busting out laughing, held her breath in to sob once or twice, then burst out laughing some more. "You have no idea how good it feels to get that off my chest."

Greg couldn't help but send out a chuckle at the situation, "I guess I don't."

"For so many thousands of years, that's popped up in my head, and I forced myself to push it out. I didn't let myself think any less of her, even if it meant ignoring what's in front of my face. I was so dedicated to her, and she- and she-" Pearl stood up all the way and shouted out, "AND SHE FUCKING USED ME!"

The soft piano music in the background stopped for a moment after a dozen keys were accidentally pressed at once, it slowly started back up again, quieter than before.

Greg stood up to calm Pearl down, "Hey, hey, it wasn't like that." 

"I know, I know. It's just-" Pearl grabbed her head and shook it a bit, "A lot of stuff is coming to surface right now, a lot of stuff I made myself bottle away. But I still know I want to thank you for helping me see all this."

In Greg's eyes, Pearl looked like she was shaking so bad she was about to fall over, he grabbed her waist and turned her slightly. "Look, you don't have to do anything for me."

Pearl smiled, grabbing one of Greg's hands and putting her other hand on his shoulder. "Then could we at least make Steven happy?"

Greg smiled back and let the soft piano sway them back and forth, for a few bars at least. Greg looked down at Pearl resting her head against his shoulder. Maybe they did just need to talk. He mildly remembered telling Steven and Connie that communication was important, and makes a mental note to take his own advice some time.

"Yay! Everyone's emotional problems are solved!" Steven shouted out as he abruptly stopped the music. 

Pearl and Greg laughed together, "Sure thing, kiddo, let's go with that."


End file.
